Just a Dream
by xxBurningxx
Summary: Because Mako is willing to lend a shoulder for her to lean on. Literally.


**Story Note: Post-episode 10 (Turning The Tides) but pre-episode 11 (Skeletons in the Closet). Fluffiness at the end—consider yourself warned.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Korra series. **

* * *

**Just a Dream  
by. **_xxBurningxx _

* * *

She can't sleep.

And it's really annoying, although she doesn't have time to feel annoyed, because she's too caught up in the fear. Her thoughts are completely shrouded by thoughts of Amon and his absolutely horrifying mask that doesn't seem to want to leave her mind.

Korra tosses and turns in her bed, trying to find a position that feels comfortable. Strangely enough, she can't seem to find one. It's like these horrible thoughts somehow have the power and significance to keep her from the sanctuary of sleep.

A crazy number of thoughts and images run through her head; what if Amon really does manage to take her bending away? What if he hurts (or even kills) her or one of her friends? There are so many "what ifs"! And she doesn't even know what she'd do if one of them didn't come out alive. Especially Mako.

She doesn't even bother to deny how much she feels for him.

And then, for the umpteenth time that night, Amon's face, dull eyes glaring from behind the mask, rises to the surface of her mind. That's probably one of things about him that scares her most; his cold and non-emotional eyes that still seem to have a kind of hate deep within them.

_Hate _for all benders (and many other things, she's sure), but especially her.

For a moment, she finds herself wondering if the man even _has _a face behind that mask. She immediately scolds herself; of course he has a face! It's one of those moments that only occur when you're _half-asleep and not thinking straight. _

Somehow, she knows that he has a desire to not just take away her powers, but to _kill _her. It's a rather sadistic theory, but she knows that it's true. At that thought, she rolls over again, the sheets tangling in her legs.

She's not sure how long it is before she finally slips into unconsciousness, but when she wakes up, she wishes she would've just stayed up all night with her thoughts.

Because her dreams aren't pleasant.

* * *

_Amon is there, and his masked face seems to stare into her soul. The dirty bastard has lied to them. To everyone. He's bloodbending. She faintly notices how that doesn't make much sense, but in dreams, you never really pay much mind to things like that. _

_And although he's not focused on her, he doesn't need to use bending to keep her down on the ground; she's too weak to even consider getting up. Unfortunately, Amon knows this. He knows it the same way he knows that she's watching him and his every move._

_She expects him to walk over to her any moment and take away her powers, or do _something _to her. He looks at her for another moment, and then she sees it in his eyes. In those eyes that always seem as though they have no emotion, she can see him smiling. _

_It's only for a brief moment though, and in a blink of an eye, Amon has turned his head and is now looking at Mako. From what Korra can see from the ground, Mako is barely standing himself and there's blood dripping down his face. And his arms. She's positive that she can see the tiny droplets falling from his hands in slow-motion._

_He punches his hands forward weakly, producing only a small puff of fire. When Mako tries again, he's suddenly stopped short with the motion, and with a raising horror she realizes that he's being bloodbended. _

_Slowly, Mako beings walking over to Bolin, whom is leaning down next to Asami. Bolin looks in pretty bad shape, but not as bad as Asami. On her side is a large gash (presumably from stray debris that's being tossed around from the ruckus going on around them) which is gushing blood at an alarming rate, and Bolin is desperately trying to wrap his shirt around the wound. _

_Bolin stops when he sees his brother walking towards him, his hands caught in mid-motion. Mako is resisting Amon but to no avail as he steadily advances towards Bolin. _

"_S…Stop this…" Mako calls out weakly, struggling to take control over his body. Bolin has completely abandoned tending to Asami; now he's staring at Mako in fear._

_Korra watches in horror as this scene takes place. And then Amon glances at her with that same smile in his eyes, and it's almost as if he's saying, _See this, Korra? It's wonderful, isn't it?

_Korra shakes her head, _No, it's not. Don't do this.

_She tries to convey this message with her eyes in the same way Amon does. Somehow, she doesn't think that she's succeeding very well. Or maybe she is, and Amon is simply not reacting. Amon returns his attention to Mako._

_It's not in Korra's power to stop the scene that's playing out before her eyes. She can move her body, sure, but she certainly doesn't have enough energy to do so. Mako advances forward towards the fearful Bolin. Mako suddenly lashes out with a new fierceness that wasn't there before, and the fiery whip is aimed towards Bolin. _

_Korra sees Bolin get knocked to the ground with a yelp of pain/surprise and after that, she can't see any more of Bolin. And then, Mako turns to Korra and she stares with an even more powerful sort of fear. _

"_M…Mako…" Korra cries out faintly, and it's hardly more than a puff of breath. He looks at her with an expression she can't quite explain; a sort of mix of pain and sorrow. It's almost as if he's trying to say sorry. She can tell he's trying his hardest to resist Amon._

"_N…N-No…" Mako says, only he doesn't say it; he can only make the movements with his mouth. He stares into her eyes, and at that moment, the dream seems so real that she's sure she's going to be overwhelmed by it._

_Suddenly, there's fire. _

_All around her, engulfing her face, and it feels so _hot _and _real.

And then she wakes up.

* * *

She jumps up with a start and for a moment, she's about to fall out of her bed. She catches herself at the last moment, successfully saving herself from a bad bruise and headache in the morning.

Her heart is pounding at least five times faster than it should be, and she swears she can still feel the lingering heat of flames licking at her skin.

She lies there and stares at the ceiling, still trying to convince herself that it was merely a dream. Just a dream.

_Just a dream._

The only thing that really allows her to separate the nightmare from reality is the fact that Amon was bloodbending. That makes no sense whatsoever. Unless her dream becomes true, and Amon really is lying to them.

The thought in itself is scary enough, let alone the events that happened in her nightmare. Watching Mako being forced to attack his own brother was horrible, but seeing him come towards her in that same manner was enough to literally take her breath away (as it did in the dream).

It's been almost ten minutes already and she's still panting a little. Sweat trickles down her face, leaving a sticky trail behind on her cheek. She really wants to wipe it off, but for some reason, her hand won't obey orders to do so.

She wants to go back to sleep, she wants to stay awake, and she wishes that she wasn't the Avatar. Because, if she weren't the Avatar, she could be back in the tribe, not even knowing who Amon was. If that were the case, she would be saying, "What the heck is an Equalist?"

But it's selfish of her to think that way.

She's the Avatar, and she needs to deal with it. The people are depending on her (at least, some of them are) and it's her duty to protect the ones she cares for. As well as the ones she _doesn't _care for.

Many moments later, after failing to fall asleep again, she forces her body to sit up. A shiver runs up her legs and all the way up to her arms when her bare feet hit the chilly wooden floor. She takes a deep inhale and realizes how cold it really is; little white puffs emit from her mouth when she breaths.

She wraps her blue Water Tribe outfit around her shoulders and slowly begins making her way to the exit way in the girls' dorm. When she pushes the door open, she is blasted with a wave of cold air and she immediately indulges in the sudden breeze that assaults her face.

She takes a few steps, and it isn't long before she finds her feet taking her to the edge of the cliff that overlooks the sea, and only the sea. When she finds a spot suitable, she plops down, brushing off a few specks of snow from her trousers.

She stares off into the distance, slightly glad that she can't see Republic City. The sound of the waves crashing against the rocky cliff sides seems to tranquilize her mood. Her mind is blank, and it's almost like meditating except for the fact that her legs are stretched out in front of her and she's _not trying _to meditate.

_Snap. _

The first time she hears it, she completely ignores it. Korra is so hypnotized by the ocean that she can't find it in herself to check to see what the source of the sound is. Perhaps that's foolish of her, considering what's been happening as of late, but she's too deep into her trance to bother.

_Snap. _

It's very possible that Korra would have ignored it the second time, had the sound not have been followed by a hissed-through-teeth, _"Crap!" _

Her head whips around and she's slightly shocked to see Mako (distinguished by his red scarf) trying to make his way around a tangle of scrawny bushes silently, tugging at braches that seem to have caught on his pants. She's not even sure if he's aware of her. She doesn't think so, because he's not even facing her. Along with the fact that it would be pitch dark if it weren't for the low light that the moon casts.

"…Mako?"

Her guess is correct; she can see him jump and he even lets out a tiny yelp. He looks at her, and from what she can tell, he has to take a moment to regain his composure.

"Oh. Korra, what are you doing out here? It's freezing."

She gives him an odd look and replies, "I could ask you the exact same thing…"

"Touché."

Korra can't keep the small smile from forming on her face…but then she realizes that it's been there even since Mako appeared. She nods her head and pats the spot beside her, offering a place for him to sit. He walks over and sits down.

"So…Care to actually tell me why you're out here?" he asks her, raising an eyebrow. She sighs and debates whether or not to tell him.

Finally, she adverts her gaze and says, "…Nightmare…"

"I'm not going to ask you to elaborate, but…"

"Amon." She tells him, hoping that'll answer any inquiries he might have.

"Ah."

It does; he doesn't question any further, and she's glad that he doesn't. Korra doesn't think that she can handle telling him, especially the part where he comes after her.

"…And…How about you…?" she says softly, cocking her head very slightly. He doesn't say anything for a few moments, but rather, keeps his gaze on the ocean. After a while, she wonders if he's ever going to say anything.

Finally, he does.

"I've just been thinking about…Asami. I think that I've really upset her."

Korra doesn't reply. She isn't all that aware of what happened between Mako and Asami, but the tension between the two is obvious, and she knows that it has something to do with her. Korra slouches and adverts her gaze when she thinks about this. As far as she can tell, it's her fault that Mako and Asami are no longer getting along.

"Hmm," she finally replies, and after that neither of them says anything else.

The silence that is shared between them isn't awkward or tense, but rather, comfortable and relaxed. Korra finds herself enjoying Mako's presence. Her mind dully notices how close he is; if she were to shift her body to the right just a tiny bit, their arms would be touching.

And then she does something that totally and completely mortifies her internally. She doesn't just "shift a tiny bit", oh no.

She completely leans over on him.

Korra has no idea what her body is doing, but she's sure that it's not obeying her orders because then she finds herself resting her head on his shoulder.

She feels Mako tense up, but only for a moment. Then, slowly, almost hesitantly, Mako shifts his head so that it's atop Korra's. After that, another long silence follows.

After a few minutes, Mako mumbles, "…Korra…?"

"What do you think's going to happen?" Korra replies quietly, so softly it's a whisper. Mako almost doesn't catch it.

"Hmm?"

"About Amon. Do you really think that we'll be able to defeat him?"

Mako notes how she says "we" and a tiny smirk slips onto his face. He tosses the thought around inside his head for a moment. What is going to happen? Surely they couldn't defeat a guy as powerful as Amon.

But Mako refuses to voice his doubts with Korra. Besides, he's just being silly; of course they would win! Korra is the Avatar, the good guy, and Amon is the Equalist, the bad guy. The good guys always win!

"Korra, everything's going to be fine. We have General Iroh's fleet coming in and together, we're going to take Amon and the Equalists down."

"…Yeeeeeeeaah…"

Her reply is stretched out long due to a yawn. Korra wipes the moisture from her eyes and yawns again. She adjusts herself so that her back is leaning against his torso more.

"…Mako…Can I ask you something?"

"Uh, sure."

"What's going to happen? Like, between you and Asami. Between _us_?"

Korra wasn't sure what she was going to ask before she asked it, but now the words are out of mouth, she's questioning her brain's functioning ability. It must be because she's sleepy; and now she wonders what time it is.

"I…I don't know, Korra. I mean…"

He pauses multiple times.

"I don't think that Asami and I are going to work out. She's been giving me the cold shoulder ever since…Since you were taken by Tarlock…And when we were looking for you…Well, the only thing that I could think about was saving you. I was seriously on the verge of killing one of those Equalist fools, and when he told us that it was Tarrlok…I didn't think that I've ever wanted to pound someone's face in so badly…Korra…I think that when I saw you, slumped on Naga's back and injured, I realized that…That I love you Korra."

…Silence…

"Korra?"

He'd been so caught up in his confession that he didn't even notice that she had dozed off. He gives her a slight shake and she jumps a little and opens her eyes slowly.

"Hmm? Oh. That's nice…Mako…" she mumbles, and then drifts back to unconsciousness.

The sleep and drowsiness tied in her voice makes it obvious that she had barely heard what he said, not comprehending any of it. Carefully, Mako stands up and eases Korra into his arms bridal style (as he's done before) and begins making his way towards the girl's dorm.

He sighs.

She'd probably wake up in the morning thinking that it was all just a dream…

* * *

_~end~_

* * *

**A/N: How do you freakin' spell Tarlock's name? Is it Torlock, Torlok, Tarlok, Tarlock? I dunno. **

**Edit: Thanks for telling me! I just went back and fixed Tarrlok's name. Lol.  
**

**Yup, so this is my second LOK story, as well as my second go at Makorra. I hope you enjoyed. Reviews encourage me to write, so if you wan't to see more LOK out of me, you know what you gotta do!**

**Also, my present-tense in this story seemed sketchy. I dunno why. Oh well.**

**This is going to stay a one-shot.**


End file.
